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Worst Presidents

Worst American President(s)

  • Obama

    Votes: 10 28.6%

  • The presidents who let 500,000 Americans die needless in the Civil War

    Votes: 8 22.9%

  • Hoover, who turned a recession into the Great Depression

    Votes: 17 48.6%
  • Total voters
    35
obvious Child said:
Nixon didn't let 500,000 Americans die needlessly because he was too much of a worthless pansy to make the hard decisions to prevent a civil war.
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I'm not sure that could have been avoided. Both sides had pretty much identified their liberty as under assault by the very actions they each took to protect themselves. Though Buchanan certainly doesn't escape his own blame for utter failure to act.

So I'll vote Hoover. Who did indeed take a recession and help turn it into a Depression.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
In bold. Good. Now you understand why your opinion is based on nothing but partisanship... no actual evidence at all. All other Presidents, with the exception of GWB, we can examine their Presidency from an impactual basis. Since we do not know what long term impact Obama's Presidency will have, we cannot... unless your partisanship blinds you to this analysis.
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LMAO...you say, since I can't prove the future I can't have an opinion about current policies without being partisan. That's statement is so silly I will move on since it is too juvenile for me to debate.
 
obvious Child said:
Conservative said "No one can change the reality that Jimmy Carter is smiling these days as Obama will replace him as our worst President in modern history. "

Let's see who agrees with him.
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My list

1-Herbert C. Hoover great depression
2-William Clinton- free trade agreement with China
3-Ronald W. Reagan trickle down economics,tripling the deficit,Iran-Contra Affair
4-George W. Bush- failure to lead,Iraq war,9/11,recession
5-Andrew Johnson's decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.
 
EarlzP said:
My list

1-Herbert C. Hoover great depression
2-William Clinton- free trade agreement with China
3-Ronald W. Reagan trickle down economics,tripling the deficit,Iran-Contra Affair
4-George W. Bush- failure to lead,Iraq war,9/11,recession
5-Andrew Johnson's decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.
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I may not agree with your list, but you've named names and given sound reasons. Thank you.
 
Interesting thread, Dave...

Though I respect them for answering the call of duty to serve the nation they loved, my picks for the five worst presidents are:

1. W. Harding (scandal ridden presidency, no need for that)
2. H. Hoover (ignorance/mis-management of all the signs pointing to a major financial disaster pending doom on his fellow citizens)
3. A. Johnson (refusal to see Lincoln's vision through on a more tolerant South)
4. L. Johnson (lame duck while his party and nation imploded around him, rather than exhibiting unifying leadership)
5. J. Carter ( drew way too many lines in the sand/thus weak on Foreign Policy--somewhere up there in heaven Teddy Roosevelt must have been rolling his eyes...)
 
conservativeguy said:
LMAO...you say, since I can't prove the future I can't have an opinion about current policies without being partisan. That's statement is so silly I will move on since it is too juvenile for me to debate.
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You can have an opinion on current policies all you want. You cannot predict with absolute certainty what those policies will look like in 10 years. You have allowed your partisanship to trump any semblance of logic. No wonder you'll "move on". Discussing this further would be quite humiliating for you.
 
There were presidents who were incredibly incompetent

and there were presidents who achieved most of what they wanted


and despite those polar opposite positions, either group could be "worst"

Andrew Johnson, Jimmy carter, and Warren Harding were rotten presidents because they were inept.

Wilson, LBJ and FDR were rotten presidents because they achieved what they wanted.
 
TurtleDude said:
There were presidents who were incredibly incompetent

and there were presidents who achieved most of what they wanted


and despite those polar opposite positions, either group could be "worst"

Andrew Johnson, Jimmy carter, and Warren Harding were rotten presidents because they were inept.

Wilson, LBJ and FDR were rotten presidents because they achieved what they wanted.
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And this is why there is such consistency in one group, and such diveristy in the other. The first group, Johnson, Carter, and Harding... and Buchanan, too, are seen as universally inept. The second, Wilson, LBJ, FDR... and adding Reagan and Coolidge are either seen as rotten or great, depending on whether you agree or don't agree with what they wanted to achieve.
 
AlanF said:
Interesting thread, Dave...

Though I respect them for answering the call of duty to serve the nation they loved, my picks for the five worst presidents are:

1. W. Harding (scandal ridden presidency, no need for that)
2. H. Hoover (ignorance/mis-management of all the signs pointing to a major financial disaster pending doom on his fellow citizens)
3. A. Johnson (refusal to see Lincoln's vision through on a more tolerant South)
4. L. Johnson (lame duck while his party and nation imploded around him, rather than exhibiting unifying leadership)
5. J. Carter ( drew way too many lines in the sand/thus weak on Foreign Policy--somewhere up there in heaven Teddy Roosevelt must have been rolling his eyes...)
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GWBush-Torture, lies, 9/11, Iraq, mercenaries galore, Patriot Act, rendition, Initiated economic disaster
RonnieReagan-"Deficits don't matter" mentality, service jobs as manufacturing, shipped jobs overseas, Out of the loop by his own admission
Wilson-Allowed the Federal Reserve Corporation to insinuate itself into our banking
Harding-absolutely corrupt
Hoover-like GWBush started a Great Depression

I liked Jimmy Carter because even then I knew Global Warming had to be addressed seriously as an International crisis. He was not a Washington insider so he couldn't get anything done.

I liked Ike and his highway system was a master stroke. His MilitaryIndustrial complex warning was prophetic.

I liked Truman. Everyone acknowledged his honesty. Have you even suspected that virtue in any current politician?

I didn't like or trust Nixon, but he needs great credit for communicating with China. I think he was sandbagged by his own CIA people.

Any leader that does not recognize Global Warming and attempt to mitigate it with local job programs to de-centralize big energy systems is Corporate-owned and doomed to failure in the history books. (that is an opinion, of course, but heartfelt and time will tell)
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
And this is why there is such consistency in one group, and such diveristy in the other. The first group, Johnson, Carter, and Harding... and Buchanan, too, are seen as universally inept. The second, Wilson, LBJ, FDR... and adding Reagan and Coolidge are either seen as rotten or great, depending on whether you agree or don't agree with what they wanted to achieve.
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exactly....

the inept ones had less long term damage to the country

Wilson gave us the income tax and FDR destroyed the boundaries between state and the federal government and made the tenth amendment and afterthought
 
Clearly the worst president is Josiah Bartlet.
 
TurtleDude said:
exactly....

the inept ones had less long term damage to the country
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Not necessarily. I think Buchanan's inaction, Johnson's support of racist policies, and Harding... creating distrust of government (similar to Nixon) had some long lasting effects.

Wilson gave us the income tax and FDR destroyed the boundaries between state and the federal government and made the tenth amendment and afterthought
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And some see these things as good, and some as bad, hence how these Presidents turn up on both the "best" and "worst" lists.
 
1. James Buchanan
2. George W. Bush
3. Franklin Pierce
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. Harry Truman
6. JFK
 
Last edited:
The idea that Obama is the worst president in our history is complete, utter, ignorant hackery. Which is why it is never asserted except by whiney, conclusory statements.
 
From a historical perspective, one has to consider the following as among the lower echelon of presidents:

1. James Buchanan (1857-1861) - Doughface who stubbornly believed he had no authority to prevent the dissolution of the Union.

2. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) - Unelected president whose intransigence with Congress and Southern sympathies virtually ensured the institutionalization of Jim Crow in the South.

3. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) - Two words: "Bleeding Kansas".

It was no coincidence that these three administrations bookended Abraham Lincoln's outstanding leadership during the Civil War. The most seminal event in our history since the founding of our nation, the Civil War was made necessary and its victory muted by the above trio. No president, before or since, through action or inaction has so recklessly imperiled our nation as this triumvirate of failure.

Following suit is an amalgam of presidents who failed utterly in times of crisis and who implemented long-lasting policies which crippled the nation. Who those individuals are depends largely on one's policy preferences and personal biases. It is patently absurd, however, to suggest any other president's impact on the economy, on national security, on the American public, has been as destructive as the Pierce, Buchanan and Johnson administrations were to the existence and welfare of the United States.
 
Krhazy said:
The idea that Obama is the worst president in our history is complete, utter, ignorant hackery. Which is why it is never asserted except by whiney, conclusory statements.
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It is hackery; as much as the assertion that George W. Bush is the worst ever.
 
Sig said:
1. James Buchanan
2. George W. Bush
3. Franklin Pierce
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. Harry Truman
6. JFK
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I can guess why most of these guys are on your list, but this may be the first time I've seen Truman or JFK in the bottom five or six ever. Could you give some explanation for them please?
 
obvious Child said:
Conservative said "No one can change the reality that Jimmy Carter is smiling these days as Obama will replace him as our worst President in modern history. "

Let's see who agrees with him.
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Why is Obama constantly under the lense for possibly being the worse president in history. There's 50 or whatever Presidents and many of them SUCKED, Obama should be nowhere in the running for this.

Guess what? I think that BECAUSE HE'S BLACK people are trying to somehow rationalize him being completely last in presidential history in order to push some underlined racist agenda that blacks can't hold up to the office of Presidency.

Yea I said it
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
JQ Adams did not do much of the work. Nowadays, Jackson would probably be seen as a Libertarian. His small government policies, appropriate for the time were what reduced the debt. Also, Van Buren worsened the economic crisis by doing nothing, and though Jackson had a part in what happened, The Bank of the US also had a part. Blaming it all on Jackson is inaccurate.



Van Buren is the "father" of the modern patronage system. Jackson was the first to take it national.
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Im pretty sure the US Bank had nothing to do with the Panic of 1837 since Jackson had removed all of the money from it using some shaky tactics.
The causes of the Panic were Jackson's "Liberetarian" policies. He did rid America of debt, but that was actually bad. He used wild tactics such as the Sepcie Circular and the use of the "wildcat" banks to replace the Federal Reserve. Andrew Jackson was the start of the Spoils System even after crying "corrupt bargain" in Quincy Adams's election.
Whoever said Lincoln is the worst president in history, where do you get that from? He is the only President from that time period that WAS NOT a complete failure. I think you have faulty logic somewhere.
 
I did not vote in the poll, because my fav wasn't on the list.

Let’s try this again. My stupid computer disconnected from the forum and I lost all my rant about Bush!

To me, Bush was the worst in my time. A few reasons are:
1. He didn’t heed warning about Ben Laden (9/11 could have happened anyway) but we’ll never know. He was warned.
2. Sent troops to Iraq starting war which killed something like 8,840 Americans, and ran up a huge debt. That cost wasn't
added to his national budget.
3. Took a budget surplus and, during his administration, changed it into a huge debt, for the next president to inherit.
4. Encouraged the trend to ship more of our jobs overseas. Although, Obama hasn’t done much to correct this.
5. Relaxed regulations on banks and Wall Street, which led to the current housing crisis and damaged the economy.
6. Although he had authority over a huge nuclear arsenal, he could never say it correctly. It’s “new-cle-er,” dammit!,
not “new-que-le-er”. But, that’s just a small personal annoyance I had with him.
 
FilmFestGuy said:
Except for the fact that they use numbers based on when he was elected and not when he took office.

That's dishonest from the get-go. What the **** was he supposed to do in November of 2008 when he wasn't in office?

Notice: Data not available: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

You'll note that by February 2009, unemployment had risen from 6.8% (not 6.7 as they claim in the article) to 8.2%.

Then, in the same damn article, they change the numbers from 6.8% to 7.9% in the very next graph.

Here's reality:

Obama
02/2009 - 8.2%
11/2011 - 9.1%

Increase in unemployment: 11%

Reagan
02/1981 - 7.4%
11/1983 - 8.5%

Increase in unemployment: 15%

Let's look at the record of the president who actually oversaw the collapse of the economy:

Bush 2
02/2001 - 4.2%
11/2003 - 6.0%

Increase in unemployment: 43%

This is what reality is: using the same numbers and same standards to make a comparison. I find it ironic they include Carter (because many consider him the worst, and his policies led to the bad economy Reagan inherited); but completely ignore Bush (when, in reality, many consider HIM the worst, and his policies led to the bad economy Obama inherited).

The entire thing is disingenuous propaganda.

Propaganda may be "interesting". But it never holds up to scrutiny.
_______________

**Numbers comes from data.BLS.gov** link always goes to "data not available, but you can look them up for accuracy.
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But but but that Messiah was going to save us (hope and change), and we let him spend $trillions....and yet things are worse. Obama is an imcompetent fool, and so is the Chicago crime machine he brought to DC with him.
 
rosie1 said:
I did not vote in the poll, because my fav wasn't on the list.

Let’s try this again. My stupid computer disconnected from the forum and I lost all my rant about Bush!

To me, Bush was the worst in my time. A few reasons are:
1. He didn’t heed warning about Ben Laden (9/11 could have happened anyway) but we’ll never know. He was warned.
2. Sent troops to Iraq starting war which killed something like 8,840 Americans, and ran up a huge debt. That cost wasn't
added to his national budget.
3. Took a budget surplus and, during his administration, changed it into a huge debt, for the next president to inherit.
4. Encouraged the trend to ship more of our jobs overseas. Although, Obama hasn’t done much to correct this.
5. Relaxed regulations on banks and Wall Street, which led to the current housing crisis and damaged the economy.
6. Although he had authority over a huge nuclear arsenal, he could never say it correctly. It’s “new-cle-er,” dammit!,
not “new-que-le-er”. But, that’s just a small personal annoyance I had with him.
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Clinton could have stop 9/11, too bad you don't know that.
 
AdminX said:
Why is Obama constantly under the lense for possibly being the worse president in history. There's 50 or whatever Presidents and many of them SUCKED, Obama should be nowhere in the running for this.

Guess what? I think that BECAUSE HE'S BLACK people are trying to somehow rationalize him being completely last in presidential history in order to push some underlined racist agenda that blacks can't hold up to the office of Presidency.

Yea I said it
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For a few people it may be, but I think for most who make the claim that Obama is the worst president ever, it's political.

Political hackery, to be precise.

Personally, I think he's a weak president, and nowhere near the best we've had...but there's no way to tell how badly he will be viewed in the grand scope of things until some time after his presidency...

Thus any statements like "worst president ever"...well, they seem stupid.
 
American said:
Clinton could have stop 9/11, too bad you don't know that.
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Yes, and I've heard Clinton say that one of his regrets was not getting Ben Laden. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, we will never know if that would have stopped 9/11 either.
 
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